Chapter Text
After Kris had fastened Noelle's silver watch to their wrist, they glanced back behind them, and promptly...
Spun on their heel to go the other way.
"...Kris?" Noelle asked, tilting her head. "Isn't that the wrong way?" She said. Kris continued to walk the completely wrong direction. After noticing that Noelle wasn't moving, they motioned for her to follow them.
"C'mon. We need to go back for a sec." They said quietly.
Gosh, I'm already regretting this.
Noelle reluctantly followed.
Almost as soon as the two backtracked, some pink, sickly looking thing charged at them, causing Noelle to squeal in surprise. She stared at it in fear, and it stared right back at her with dizzy eyes. "Aah! W-what's going on?! Kris, what are we doing?!" She called to the position they took beside her. They wordlessly raised their shield, standing in guard of themself and Noelle.
They raised their hand to point at the pink enemy in front of them, pointing past their shield to the sneezing, sickly enemy in front of them. "Noelle. IceShock." They called, their voice sounding... Odd. Like it wasn't theirs. Their face looked uncomfortable, too.
"W-what? You want me to cast IceShock... On a person..?" She asked. Queen had only said to defend herself with it... Teaching her to build walls of ice. But, she supposed Kris knew best, they looked... experienced, somehow. "I-if you say so..." She said, before raising her hands towards the enemy before them. The spell traveled to the opposing creature, spinning around it and enveloping it in a thick layer of ice.
It was... Uncanny. It looked so scared, yet it didn't move. It didn't tremble or shake with terror like she would have. Just... Blank. She took a breath after the enemy stopped moving, and approached it cautiously, tapping the ice around it with a guilty expression. Kris seemed to notice the guilt on Noelle's face as they walked up and put a hand on her shoulder, as if to... Comfort her?
"You did what you had to." Kris said, giving her what almost looked like a genuine, sympathetic look. "It's okay. I'm just helping you get stronger." They said, taking a gentle hold of her wrist and guiding her away from the frozen creature. "Come on, there's still a few more things to do before we move forward." Noelle hesitantly nodded and followed behind them, letting Kris keep a hold of her wrist. It felt... Oddly comforting, seeing Kris act this kind to her again. It was almost like they were little kids again, best friends following eachother everywhere.
Kris soon let go of her wrist and walked to an alley. Noelle still followed behind them, staring in curiosity as they approached a traffic cone with a cute animal face on it. And then, something lunged at Kris from beneath it.
Noelle jumped once more, this time trying to approach to defend Kris, but... It seemed like Kris had expected this, backing up just enough to not get hit. They raised their shield once more, pointed to the dolphin-like creatures in front of them and nodded. Noelle knew what they wanted her to do and reluctantly obliged, casting IceShock once more to freeze the dolphin, it being frozen like a statue trying to slink back into its hiding spot.
And then Kris asked for her to do it again.
"K-Kris, I trust you and all, but.." Noelle hesitated, pausing for a breath. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do..?" She asked. Kris nodded in response.
"It'll build up your strength and tolerance." Kris said, like it was that obvious. "You'll feel less bad about doing it after this." They continued. "IceShock." They repeated, pointing once more at the dolphin in front of them, which looked horrified, but just wouldn't move. Noelle hesitated once more, and Kris's expression firmed slightly. "Noelle. Now." They ordered.
"O-okay, okay..!" Noelle said, being slightly caught off guard by Kris's insistance. "I... I'll do it." She said. She closed her eyes..
And cast IceShock.